Commercial bothropic antivenom neutralized the neuromuscular blockade to varying degrees, depending GSK458 purchase on the venom concentration. We thank Dr. Maria de Fátima Domingos Furtado for providing the venom and Dr. Thalita Rocha (Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista, SP, Brazil) for help with the histological analysis. D.S.M. was supported by an MSc studentship

from Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and S.R.F. was supported by an MSc studentship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). L.R.S., M.A.C.H. and S.H. are supported by research fellowships from CNPq. “
“Snake venom poisoning is a public health issue for many countries and despite the great difficulty

in raising the actual data of these accidents, some studies show that there are about 5.4 million to 5.5 selleck chemicals million accidents, more than 400,000 amputations and about 20,000 to 125,000 deaths per year worldwide. These numbers surpass several other neglected tropical diseases in occurrence and number of fatalities, such as leishmaniasis, dengue, schistosomiasis, cholera, and Chagas disease ( Williams et al., 2010). In addition, snake bites only joined the list of neglected tropical diseases recently, in April 2009, showing that it was not seen as an important public health issue until recently ( World Health Organization, 2011). The problem of snake venom poisoning is that it exists in the midst of several factors which complicate its solution, such as: profile of the victim; lack of training programs for health staff; underreporting of accidents; improvement in the production, storage and distribution of sera; further studies on quality and safety of serums produced (World Health Organization, 2010). The most recommended

treatment in cases of snakebite accidents is serum therapy. The neutralizing ability is assessed by evaluating Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase the capacity of the antivenom to inhibit the lethal action of the reference venom, i.e., from Bothrops jararaca, in a murine model ( World Health Organization, 1981). The antivenom produced by the Butantan Institute is prepared by immunization of horses with a mixture of venoms of the species: Bothrops alternatus (12.5%), Bothrops jararacussu (12.5%), Bothrops moojeni (12.5%), Bothrops neuwiedi (12.5%) and B. jararaca (50%). But in Brazil, there are several species of the Bothrops genus (sensu latu) which differ widely in composition of venom and with regard to the neutralization of its components, such as metalloproteinase, PLA2 and hyaluronidases ( Queiroz et al., 2008). Indeed, the interspecific variation in venom composition and toxicity of Brazilian snakes from the Bothrops genus, poses a challenge to the provision of antivenom to be used in accidents caused by any one of the species.